January 12th 2024 

 

Dear Parents and students 

Thank you for all your support this week. Students have worked very hard this week and earned 2962 Excellent Effort Points along the way.

We have begun to send Homework texts from this week, starting today with English and Maths. Please do check in which subjects your daughter or son is due to submit homework assignments.

Year 11 have worked very hard during their Walking Talking Mock (with teacher help) and Pre-public (without teacher help) examinations this week. As we go through the year, our practice days will resemble more and more the summer when students may well sit 2 or even 3 Public Examinations in one day.  We will seek to offer the appropriate balance of support and stretch as we go to both our Year 11 and Year 13 students.

Please do remind your daughter or son that we offer a free hot breakfast to all students before school begins. Some young people skip or just do not want to eat breakfast early in the morning but can become very hungry later on.

Again this term, we will be emphasising the importance of care, courtesy, consideration and simple acts of kindness in our work with students.

We will also be emphasising the importance of 98%+ attendance together with punctuality to school in the morning and to lessons along with self-organisation: always bringing the correct equipment to school.  Please see our student Equipment List HERE. These skills are crucial to the learning of students and their success in secondary education.

As ever, students have undertaken a number of activities beyond the classroom this week with Years Tuesday seeing 7 & 8 students attend an Indoor Sports’ Tournament at 3 Hills and Sixth Form girls attend a careers talk run by NextTech girls and Holiday Extras aimed at encouraging young women to enter technology related careers.

On Wednesday, the Royal Shakespeare Company were in school helping our Years 7 -13 Drama students prepare for their performance at the Marlowe Theatre later this term.

On Thursday, Years 12 & 13 History A level students attended a workshop at Canterbury Christ Church University, and students in Year 10 took part in school in a Debate run by the Kent & Medway Progression Forum.

We are deeply conscious of our responsibility to support the well-being of our student body and the presentation from today’s Family Friday Academy Tutor period shows some of the work we are doing around this. Family Friday Presentation

Have a restful weekend.

Yours sincerely, 

Charles Joseph

Principal